Would you be confident...

[woodse guy]

Oh, COME-ON Guys. According to the real "EXPERTS" on this forum, I am just an Armchair lawyer, who is not suppose to know anything about locks- or how to fix them. You are ruining my reputation. :rotf: :blah: :haha: :wink:

Seriously, this is the Easiest method I have found to "TUNE" a percussion lock to save nipples, and insure reliable ignition with any percussion gun. I don't mind sharing it with you.

My first MLing rifle was an abortion made in Spain, by a company that is still sending guns over here. :shocked2: :nono: The drum was loose, on my gun, and even when we got that working right, the gun would only fire about once every three or four hammer falls. I wore myself out trying to shoot at targets with that gun the first day.

I spent much of the next month fixing this and fixing that- all from the school of "trial and error", or " hard knocks" as some want to say. The one thing I could not do was BREAK a part, as there were NO replacement parts from anyone. So, I measured 3 times, and cut once, and did a lot of thinking about what I was about to do before I did that! This was Before Al GORE invented the Internet, so I didn't have anyone really to ask. Certainly, there was no forum like this where people from all over the world visit us and answer questions posed by members.

There are people here whom I respect, but who do not return the favor. I call them my fan club, because it irritates them that I am nice to them. Some of the members here met me last summer at Dixon's Gunmaker's fair. I enjoyed meeting each of them, getting to know them, and talking face to face.

The people who find my suggestions helpful are welcome to them- there are certainly enough " mistakes " left for them to find, that I am not going to spoil their enjoyment of this sport by helping them deal with some of My OWN mistakes. :shocked2: :grin: :bow:

I hope all of you have a Happy New Year- my fans, and my critics. :hatsoff: :hatsoff:

Well how do you make inletting black then Mr. wise and all knowing. :wink: :rotf: :blah:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Do you know how to make lamp black? If so, take a quantity of that and mix it with the cheapest cold cream you can buy. Voila!

 

[woodse guy]

Nope no clue :idunno:

 

[ohio ramrod]

To make lamp black take a kerosene latern and set the wick to produce a black smoke, hold a piece of glass in the smoke to collect the soot, then scrap off the soot. :hmm:

 

[paulvallandigham]

I once made the mistake of relying on a clerk in a hardware store to get me a gallon of Kerosene. Paid for it and didn't check. put it in my lantern and lit it to test it out at home, before going camping, and darn-near burned the place down. He had given me a can of "White Gas"= stuff you use in Coleman camp stoves- but NOT in lanterns. Anyway, No adjustment of the wick could turn it off. The glass "globe" on the lantern quickly was coated with a Really thick layer of "Lamp Black", so that by the time the flame stopped, there was only about 1/4" of an opening in the normal 1 1/2" opening in the neck of the globe.

That is a LOT of lamp black!~ I scraped it off with a long knife blade, before using a brush and soap and water, to clean the inside of the globe from all the grease and remaining carbon. I went back to the hardware store and found real Kerosene, and used the white gas to burn down some weeds at my gun club, widening the swing and fall area for our Trap. That is always exciting, as any gasoline is very volatile.

In short, what ohioramrod has described- using a piece of glass over a flame to collect the lamp black -- is one of the ways its done. A butter knife will scrape the lampblack off the glass, and soap and water- soaking-- will clean the glass back to new.

Lampblack is very light, "Fluffy" stuff- its SOOT!

So to save it, you will want to take your glass indoors before scraping off the lamp black.

A very little lampblack and grease goes a very long way, so take less than 1/2 tsp. of cold cream, put it on a small saucer or plate, and then mix the lampblack into the grease with a dull knife- like a spatula is. Think of yourself as a "Painter" mixing up some black, oil paint. Once you have it the deep black you want to use as a marker, you can scrape off the mixture, and put it in some small jar.

The failing of most all of us who have managed to get too much lampblack EVERYWHERE, is that we used too much, and we were too much in a rush to keep our work surfaces, and work areas clean. We didn't wear cheap rubber gloves when working with the stuff. BTDT.

Keith Lisle's suggestion to use a very small brush, and cut the bristles off to about 1/4" is a valuable tip to all of us who have BEEN THERE :hmm: :v :wink:

We shortened the bristles on paint brushes- wide ones--- years ago, when I worked in a Woodshop as a Teen. We painted custom made boxes that were used to store and carry heavy construction tools, and the shorter bristles allowed us to put paint on the wood much FASTER, with less "slop", and drips. Speed is not required when inletting a barrel, tang or lock, but you don't want excess amounts of lampblack on the metal parts.

 

[adirondack46r]

After all is said and done, based on my tests (lipstick) the nipple makes a nice uniform ring on the face of the hammer. No dremmel required. Also, the caps fit snuggly on the nipple. I think I am good to go. If I drop the hammer in Ohio next week I will let you know the result - smoke or no smoke. Looking for my first cap n' ball deer.

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Ken Cormier]

Before I found out about real guns (flintlocks)when I load my caplock I would slap the side of the brech area to nock some powder into the flash channel.Always worked for me just 02.

 

[paulvallandigham]

With percussion guns with right angle flash channels, I always found that using the smaller 3Fg powder worked better, since it would flow easier through that turn, and through the small flash channel. Enlarging the diameter of that small channel would often "cure" the ills of that design, and let shooter use 2Fg powder.

With Pyrodex- I never used it, but other guys in the club did-- I recommended that they use the Pistol(P) version, rather than the larger rifle/shotgun(RS) version in those guns. Its important to get powder over and under the nipple for reliable ignition in percussion guns.

Always leave the hammer at half-cock and the nipple clear of the spent cap, so that air can pass back out of the nipple as you load your PRB down the barrel. That movement of air will also take some of the powder in the chamber, and push it down through the flash channel over to the base of the nipple, for you.

When the channel is dirty, often a smack on the side of the action is about the only thing that might break loose a jam, and get powder over to the nipple.

As small as the flash channel is, and as much Pressure as occurs in that channel when the charge of powder is fired, MOST of the time, any jam or obstruction USUALLY burns, or is blown OUT with the next shot.

The Exception is congealed OIL, particularly when its petroleum based, leaving TARS in that channel. Nothing short of dissolving the mess with alcohol has cleared the channel of that obstruction for me, in my personal experience.

 

[necchi]

I think I am good to go. If I drop the hammer in Ohio next week I will let you know the result - smoke or no smoke. Looking for my first cap n' ball deer.

OH Ya! You started this thread didn't ya ? :grin:

Well good luck, Aim small, Miss small :thumbsup:

 

[adirondack46r]

Well, I dropped the hammer at the end of a three day hunt (to unload) and got an instantaneous ignition. Replacement nipple, prudent use of a nipple pick, and pouring powder in the channel under the nipple after loading seems to be a pretty sure fire system, even with Pyrodex.

In contrast, one of the other hunters with an inline got a shot at a buck and no smoke - the bolt/firing mechanism froze up. That probably won't ever happen with a hammer. :wink:

Thanks for all the advice.